


The Lights in the Shadow

by bioticbootyshaker



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-02
Updated: 2015-03-02
Packaged: 2018-03-15 22:21:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3464186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bioticbootyshaker/pseuds/bioticbootyshaker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tracking the missing Seekers to Caer Oswin, Cassandra is unexpectedly reunited with Aurora Trevelyan, a fellow Seeker who is fighting for her life after the betrayal of Lord Seeker Lucius.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Lights in the Shadow

Aurora tasted blood, coppery at the back of her throat when she swallowed. The wounds at her side and shoulder, where blades had grazed and sunk, hurt terribly as she pulled herself to her feet. But what hurt worse was what she found when her eyes focused and adjusted to the heavy darkness.

Her brothers and sisters, brutalized and strewn about with as much care as one would administer to piles of garbage. It made her heart ache to look at them, but it strengthened her resolve; Lord Seeker Lucius would pay for what he'd done, even if it was the death of her.

Her wounds ached fiercely, and no doubt infection would be a problem if she didn't get them treated and tended, but Aurora could ignore them if she grit her teeth and imagined wringing the Lord Seeker's throat.

Gripping the hilt of her sword, she leaned against the blade as she steadied herself and caught her breath. The smell of blood and death were heavy around her, and she had to steel herself to keep her feet under her.

With only the briefest look in the direction of the bodies of her comrades, Aurora sheathed her sword and took her first unsteady steps on Lucius' trail.

****

"There's someone there," Talan whispered, holding up a hand to halt their steps. With zir staff drawn and magic swirling around zir outstretched hand, they watched as the figure that approached them moved out of the dark and into the low lantern light.

When the woman staggered into view, Cassandra raced around Talan, catching the woman as she pitched forward and saving her a nasty spill onto the hard ground. When Cassandra said her name, in a tone that was both concerned and warmly affectionate, Talan lowered zir staff and canceled zir spell.

"You're injured," Cassandra fussed, as though the woman couldn't feel the deep wounds at her shoulder and side. She lifted her head, blinking slowly and languidly, a dribble of blood running from her bottom lip. Even in what must have been tremendous pain, she smiled. "Am I?" She asked. "I had no... no idea."

"Quiet," Cassandra snapped, harsher than she'd intended judging by the wince on her face after the word sliced from her mouth. The woman -- Aurora -- still smiled though, so the barb must have gone unnoticed.

"She needs healing," Cassandra said, looking up at Talan with naked desperation zie had never seen from her before. "You have to do something."

"Alright," Talan soothed. Zie knelt beside Aurora, gently removing her armor until zie could rest zir hand to the deep gash at her side. Zie swore through zir teeth, ordering Cassandra to make her a comfortable place to lie down. "She's hemorrhaging," Talan said. "Keep her still and give her some of the elfroot in my pack."

When she was relaxed, with the elfroot numbing some of her pain, Talan got started on healing her wounds. Dorian assisted when zie flagged some.

"She's stable," Dorian announced. "But unless you want your friend to die here, we'd best get her back to Skyhold."

"The Lord Seeker--"

"We've ruined his plans here," Talan said. "We can't linger, Cassandra. She needs a place to recover properly or she'll die."

Cassandra looked out against the darkness, as if she could sense Lucius out there somewhere, smiling and laughing gleefully over her failure. But she wasn't a monster, like he was. She wouldn't let a friend die because she couldn't set aside her own anger.

"Yes," Cassandra said, gingerly standing with Aurora in her arms and balking when Talan offered to carry her. "Let's go."

****

There were a million things to do back at Skyhold, and Cassandra knew that she was wasting precious time sitting by Aurora's bedside; but whenever she moved to leave, her stomach rolled and her heart tightened until her knees trembled under her and she sat back down. 

Their relationship was... unusual. For years, she and Aurora had held spirited discussions -- or perhaps "discussions" was to nice a term. They had argued, sometimes vehemently and loudly, about the right way to handle situations. Cassandra erred on the side of caution, wanting to approach each problem as cautiously and conservatively as possible. Aurora, meanwhile, had always been more daring; she wanted to try new things, to approach problems from new angles and different perspectives. Where Cassandra was content to do what had always worked, Aurora pushed the envelope and barreled through boundaries and shook things up. 

Needless to say, for most of their time together, there had been some animosity between them. 

But it was impossible to stay cross with Aurora, with her easy smile and tender heart and infectious laugh; she was a magnetic woman, drawing people to her even when she wanted to keep them at arm's length. 

She supposed, if she'd been pressed, Cassandra would have admitted she cared for her; but she would have said so through tightly clenched teeth.

"You've made my life much harder than it needs to be," Cassandra said, watching Aurora's face for signs that she could hear her. "Ever since I first saw you, I knew that you would be nothing but trouble."

But what trouble was she? She was a woman who could stand on her own and take care of herself, so why did Cassandra feel so protective of her?

Why did her heart hurt to look at her? 

"What a mess," Cassandra sighed. "What am I going to do with you?"

She hoped Aurora would sit up and flash one of her sunny smiles and argue with her about being too cautious and careful, but she remained still and her eyes remained closed. 

Cassandra settled in for a long wait, watching Aurora's still face with concern gnawing at her heart. 

****

"You should have let me die."

Cassandra stared at her, not sure what to say, or if she should even say anything at all. Where anger might have stirred, there was only hurt, as though Aurora had reached into her and taken hold of something very tender and twisted it roughly.

"What?" Cassandra asked. She wanted to sound indignant, perhaps outraged, but she instead sounded only hollow and breathless.

"Lucius... The things he did... You should have gone after him and left me to die." Aurora looked away from her, and that was probably for the best; she couldn't see the naked hurt in Cassandra's eyes. "He led us all to that place. Promised us that we were fulfilling our duty, that we were upholding the honor of the Seekers... He led us to that place and he killed us all."

"Not all," Cassandra said. Her voice trembled, but her touch was steady as she took Aurora's hand.

Aurora looked at her, looking up from where Cassandra touched her to meet her eyes.

"You let him escape," she said. "You. I thought you did everything by the book, Pentaghast."

_You complicated things. Like you always do._

Cassandra bit her lip, swallowing the words. Better Aurora believed she had let Lucius escape because of poor decision making, or a shirking of her duties, than because the affection she felt for her had clouded her judgment and made everything else unimportant.

"I made a mistake," Cassandra said. "If I'd known you'd be this disagreeable I would have left you where you were."

The words were caustic, but Aurora smiled. Of course she did. For all the years Cassandra had known her she'd never been able to make sense of her. 

Silence settled between them, not wholly uncomfortable. Aurora drowsed and woke to find Cassandra still with her, chuckling and shaking her head. "Don't fret, mother," Aurora said, smirking when Cassandra huffed. "I don't need you fussing over me."

Cassandra couldn't leave her side. It was a matter of principle, she told herself. If she had investigated sooner, Aurora might not have been so badly injured and the Seekers might not have been so brutally decimated. She bore the brunt of that loss heavy on her heart, and nothing could ever lessen the weight.

Also... there seemed to be a magnetism between them. Cassandra cursed it even as she drew helplessly closer to her and felt a flutter go through her stomach and chest.

"I am not fussing," Cassandra said, firmly. "I am sitting quietly. Or does my presence bother you so much?"

The humor left her eyes and the corners of her mouth dropped as her smile faltered. How tiring it must have been to remain strong and steady in the face of so much grief and loss and horror.

Cassandra took her hand and squeezed gently. After that, the walls came down. Aurora cried, quietly and softly at first, but as Cassandra's touch moved to her face, the tears cams harder, wracking her body.

She held her as she cried, letting her bury her hurt and shame and guilt against her shoulder.

She wished she could have promised her it would be alright, but she had no idea what would happen, what remained of the order they had devoted so much of their lives to, or where Lucius had disappeared to.

All Cassandra knew was that she was hurting, that she was crumbling.

And Aurora felt good in her arms.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Femslash February on Tumblr; unfortunately I didn't make the deadline, but as far as I'm concerned, every month is Femslash month. :3


End file.
